1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to backlight modules used in liquid crystal displays, more particularly to a backlight module including a fixing member and to a liquid crystal display using the backlight module.
2. General Background
Liquid crystal displays are commonly used as display devices for compact electronic apparatuses, not only because they provide good quality images but also because they are very thin. Liquid crystal in a liquid crystal display does not emit any light itself. The liquid crystal requires a light source so as to be able to clearly and sharply display text and images. Therefore, a typical liquid crystal display requires an accompanying backlight module.
Referring to FIG. 5, a typical backlight module 10 includes a top plastic frame 12, a light guide plate 14, a light source 16, and a metal bottom tray 18. The top frame 12 includes four side walls 122 integrally arranged end to end, and a peripheral spacing board 124 inwardly extending from inner surfaces (not labeled) of the side walls 122. A plurality of protrusions (not labeled) outwardly extend from outer surfaces (not labeled) of the side walls 122. The bottom tray 18 includes a bottom plate 184, and four side plates 182 upwardly extending from edges of the bottom plate 184. A plurality of notches 186 are defined in the side plates 182, respectively corresponding to the protrusions of the top frame 12. The light source 16 is located adjacent to a long side edge of the light guide plate 14. The light guide plate 14 includes a light incident surface 142, a light emission surface 144 substantially perpendicularly adjoining the light incident surface 142, and a bottom surface 146 opposite and parallel to the light emission surface 144.
When the backlight module 10 is assembled, the light guide plate 14 and the light source 16 are accommodated in the bottom tray 18. Then the protrusions of the top frame 12 are respectively received in the notches 186 of the bottom tray 18. Thereby, the top frame 12 and the bottom tray 18 are secured with each other.
However, in the assembling process of the backlight module 10, the four side walls 122 of the top frame 12 are secured to the four side plates 182 of the bottom tray 18 respectively, and in a disassembling process of the backlight module 10, the four side walls 122 need to be demounted from the four side plates 182. These steps make the assembling and disassembling processes of the backlight module 10 somewhat complicated, and waste time. In addition, in the steps of securing the top frame 12 to the bottom tray 18 and demounting the top frame 12 from the bottom tray 18, the side walls 122 of the top frame 12 need be pulled outwardly such that the top frame 12 is liable to be deformed, thus impairing reliability of the backlight module 10. Furthermore, the metal bottom tray 18 is costly in terms of the shaping required and the material consumed, thus adding to the cost of manufacturing the backlight module 10.
What is needed, therefore, is a backlight module which can overcome the above-described problems. What is also needed is a liquid crystal display using such backlight module.